From the Maggot Cup, the Virginia League, the Rum Cup to the inception of the Bayhill, as well as the Engen KO Challenge – not forgetting the Hollywoodbets Third Division and the ABC Motsepe League in the more modern era.
Thomas Carolus (pictured with former England captain and striker Alan Shearer who Carolus had lined up for Santos in the 1990’s – lol), better known as Poen, has been standing tall and is still rolling with the proverbial punches.
The 69-year-old Elsies River-born soccer enthusiast, is still an active member of Riverside Rangers Football Club, which is affiliated to the Northerns LFA – just like fellow member Trinitarians who narrowly missed out on a league title.
The team of head coach Charles Jaftha would have followed in the footsteps of neighbours Matroosfontein FC who achieved this feat a couple of seasons ago – but it wasn’t to be as they were pipped by the debutant Diadora FC with two games to spare.
Carolus, also a very well-known and loved figure in the Northerns football and broader community, stated he was as gutted as everyone else when Trinnies fell short – but in retrospect, Diadora FC are well-deserved winners as they have been the most consistent team this season while Trinnies came off second best.
Carolus stated his reasons as to why and where it all went wrong for Trinnies.
“Firstly, I want to say that I feel for them and the broader Northerns football fraternity, as it was within their own hands with two games to play,” Carolus told No Bones with Jones.
“For me, the turning point was their game they had in hand against Jomo’s Power where they squandered a 3-1 lead to draw the match 3-3.
“This was the killer blow for them in my view, especially in the manner in which they lost the game. They threw away a two-goal lead and lost two valuable points which killed it for them before the last match against Greenwood Athletic which they also
“I think this was down to a bit of inexperience as the coaching staff made some questionable changes like taking off defenders and bringing on strikers which disrupted the structure and the rhythm of the team. But these are valuable lessons they are learning and hopefully they grow from here as there is lots of potential for the future – they just need to build on this and success will follow,” Carolus concluded.
